Just a few days ago a comment on one of my blog posts relating to one of my favorite songs seems to have drawn me into a moment of contemplation for no apparent reason. One of my favorite songs recorded by Elvis Presley is titled “Love Letters” and although it is not one of his mainstream hits, it is a song that has always struck a strong chord with me, no pun intended. But in that referred to moment of which I just spoke, I seemed to have come to a realization that we, our kids, our society in fact, is losing touch with one of the most romantic and meaningful things that we use to engage in with our lovers, whether they were our girlfriends, boyfriends, wives or husbands. And that is the art of writing love letters.
Play Me….
In the past I think it fair to say that to use the word ‘typewriter’ and ‘love letter’ in the same sentence seemed a transgression against all we held dear and sacred. And now we have the computer and instant transmission. Sure you can still bang out a letter to the one you love on the old computer keyboard but from my perspective there seems to be complete lack of warmth, sensitivity and passion in the act. There is a coldness and harshness that cannot be disguised by the words themselves. Simply words embedded in the cold metal of technology. Love letters weren’t just words on paper. They were words that flowed from the heart through the pen onto the paper with intensity and passion. The words themselves had a life and a purpose.
Remember the anticipation of going to the mail box or post office. Your heart pounding as you fumbled through the mail looking for that magical envelope that would lift your soul to the heavens. There was an unspoken realization she had been holding the pen from which flowed the words that your heart longed to hear. Her hands had touched the paper; the envelope. She had touched the letter to her face before mailing it, perhaps even sealing the envelope with a tender and wishful kiss. And lastly, there was that subtle scent of perfume that gave you a sense she was at that very moment only a heartbeat away.
For many of us during those good old school days, a love letter was a four page note on notebook paper that we had spent writing the night before sprawled out across our bed composing in lieu of doing the homework and studying we should have been doing. The next day at some water fountain in a hallway we would meet the love of our life and quickly slip the note into their hand. And then we would spend the next hours in weighted anxiety and anticipation of an acknowledging and reciprocating reply.
To say there is something romantic, even magical, about the art of writing love letters is perhaps to a great degree an understatement. And though those days have surely passed for me, I find myself almost in a state of remorse. Not because I may not write another myself, but because of all the feelings and sensations that so many others will miss for not ever having experienced the sheer joy and excitement involved with the writing and receiving of love letters. There is truly nothing like it in the context of love and relationships.
It seems to me there are just some things that are sinful to lose as this world and society progresses to its end. Several months ago I wrote a little piece titled “Penmanship and the Art of Writing” and I suppose this piece on love letters could certainly be considered a sister to that.
I don’t know if the few words written here today will do justice or honor to the wonder and magic of the love letter and all it has meant, but it seemed I must say something. I would love to end this post on a high note, but it just cannot be done from my perspective. There is for me, an aurora of sadness because of what I know so many will miss. No one will ever write or sing a song about love letters in the future it would seem. And to the meaning of the song that was featured at the beginning of this post, there will come a time in the not so distant future when no one will even understand its meaning….
A Commentary on Talent……
December 1, 2009 at 7:08 am (Commentary, Music)
Tags: Commercialism, Talent, The Arts
Some three years ago on another blog long since lost in a Cyberspace blackhole, I wrote a commentary on “talent”. Given my love for the arts and music in particular, I wanted to share again those thoughts with regard to talent….
With regard to at least one major aspect of my life, I now understand that I probably squandered a major part of my talents…..to whatever degree they existed. At least it would seem so with regard to the real heart and soul of those talents which is the point of this writing. As to music as a first-hand example and to the part music played in my life, I enjoyed playing and entertaining but most of my efforts were directed toward others and what I perceived they liked and wanted to hear. If you possess any measure of real talent, it may unfortunately fall to the wayside through the years in your efforts to peddle your wares and maintain an audience.
Many times in our society those who offer up a personal critique or commentary on some item of interest concerning their fellow human beings, often do so never having walked in the shoes of those who they point their pen toward. Music and performing have always been a part of my life. And now as I walk through the autumn of my life and look back at my footsteps in the sand, I am, with reasonable certainty, sure that I did not for the most part do it ‘my way’.
But the thoughts I am putting forth here are not at all about me but rather I speak of “talent” in an overall sense. I speak of those who actually possess a “talent” and often want to share their works with the world because their soul has a message to speak. Others who possess a great talent may not choose to share that talent. Much of what is presented to the public and perceived as the expression of talent in our day to day lives is not the least of someone’s talent….unless you consider commercial success in itself representative of a talent. Those that commercialize true talent certainly believe that being able to do that is within itself a talent. But be assured that there is much talent that we never see because there are some who not only possess the talent, but refuse to let it be manipulated and tarnished by commercialism and the like. For the most part we don’t embrace talent in these days and times….we suck the life out of it, if in fact there was any talent there to begin with.
In perhaps a more philosophical sense, true talent is a bit like a bird on the wing….free and wild and in tune with nature. But once a talent is recognized and found pleasing to our own soul, we seem to want to cage it like a bird, which in reality will forever change the true nature of that talent. What means more to you? Seeing some very special bird everyday in a cage full well knowing that it is, in truth, slowly withering away and losing its spirit or…..from time to time being just lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it as it moves within it’s true realm free and wild? The latter is when our hearts truly soar. Yet many a talented individual in our society today will succumb to the fate of a caged bird.
A true artist whether a composer, a writer, a painter, a poet or the like has to deal with the commercialization of their talent if that talent ever gains public recognition. And most of us don’t deal with our talents successfully. Sure, many may end up as millionaires because their talents have been successfully commercialized or exploited but for most there will be a day of reckoning within the confines of their own soul when the majority of them will have to face the fact that they cheated themselves of showing the world who they really were and the true talent therein. Let’s face the cold, hard truth – commercial success is how most of us measure success. That is how most of us measure talent. Yet as many of you know, some of the greatest talents to have ever lived never realized a cent from their gifts and some were not even discovered until after their deaths.
In today’s society and culture most talents work hard, very hard, at producing something they hope the public will adore and accept. But the true artist will only strive to satisfy the passion and yearnings of their own heart and soul. It is satisfying that yearning within themselves that is their true goal and bares the purity of their gift. But it seems that once the slightest inkling enters the mind of an artistic person that a living could be gained from their talent, they themselves, from that moment on, put that talent at risk. Once they begin to direct their thoughts and ideas toward a commercialized public, they have in fact compromised their talents to one degree or another.
Does the writer of a novel calculate each paragraph and chapter in an effort to capture their commercial reader or are they following the dictation of their heart and soul as the words begin to flow across the pages? Does a painter calculate each brush stroke in an effort to please his public or even choose their subject to the same degree? Almost all of the music we hear today is totally commercialized to a major extent. It is written and arranged to extrapolate fortunes from the public….not to give us insight into the magic of some writer’s soul as the melody weaves its way across the pages of a manuscript.
So much we will all miss because of this. So much will many of the artists discard who possess a wealth of talent miss because of this. And many with true talents will never step forward and let us share in their gifts because they already understand that this is how it is and they refuse to compromise the origin of their talent….which is indeed their heart and soul.
It is all very, very personal and for those who possess a true talent and we are so fortunate that they may choose to share it with us to fulfill us and make our lives richer. It is their true talents that inspire us as individuals to test our own boundaries and talents – helping us to be more than we thought we could be. Don’t measure true talent by the number of albums we are told they sold, or the number of books we are told they sold, or the fact that they are number one by some measure this week. Don’t measure talent by the price someone paid for their paintings. Measure their talent by the amount of heart and soul wrapped around their offerings to you and I and then all of us will benefit from the experience.
Look under rocks and turn over logs….there lies the true talent that inspires our lives and makes this life worth living.
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